Little People

So my school has a tradition of having the 3rd graders write a letter about their favorite Christmas memories and what their New Year's resolution is for the upcoming year. Reading these letter's or trying to decipher what these kids were trying to say made me realize how far I've come in 9 years. One of my favorite mistakes was one kid said his New Year's resolution is "to shat the table for his family to eat". I'm not thinking he meant what he wrote but who knows what these kids watch on TV.

Anyway, each high schooler was assigned a 3rd grader. I got Cory Minks, my baseball coach's son, and his favorite Christmas memories included "getting his favorite toy", "playing in the snow", and "getting lots of presents." After we read our 3rd grader's letter, we had to respond to it by writing a letter back to them with our favorite Christmas memories and New Year's resolution. The memories I wrote about ranged from watching 'Christmas Vacation', watching college bow games, and being with family. My resolution, as cliche as it sounds, is to not take anything for granted and enjoying the time I get with my family. After we had wrote our letter and decorated it, my decorations were worse then theirs, we put a candy cane and holiday pencil with it inside an envelope.

The next day, the entire Senior class was off the the grade school. We met up with our 3rd grader, they read their letter to us, we read our letter to them, and then we talked about what they wanted for Christmas. Cory wanted to get the new Call of Duty game for his Xbox 360. I guess for some things, age doesn't matter because I own that game and it is the SHIT. Our next task is to go to his classroom and have him show me around. The highlight of this trip was his class's two rats, yes rats. The kids took the mice out of their cage and my kid decides to stick one of the rats underneath his shirt for fun, then tries to hand it to me, not happening.

After we were done in his class, we went to the library, and to my surprise they still had the same Librarian that they had when I was there. Cory showed me his friends and where the "cool" spot was to sit. So I took a seat in a chair that I thought I might break sitting in. He then showed me a practical joke on some of his classmates, about 8, where he scratched their hand, told them to smell it, and smacked their hand into their face when they did it.

Then as sad as it was, we high schoolers had to go back to our school and had to say good bye to our new friends. Hearing a "Corbin! See you dude!" about every 5 steps as I exited the Grade School, I loaded the bus wishing I was in 3rd grade again.

2009 year of sports in review: Best and Worst

Best

• Kobe Bryant- He took another step to making an argument for himself as the best player ever by winning his fourth NBA championship, most importantly his first without Shaq. So now that the monkey is off his back, how many more can he win? Could he surpass or tie MJ's 6 titles? I guess only time will tell. On another note, Kobe was awarded his first NBA finals MVP.
  


• Michael Vick- Michael did his time and then some. He spent 18 months in prison (Donte Stallworth spent less than 30 days for killing someone with his car when he was drunk and high, something wrong with this picture?) for charges everyone already knows and then served a suspension in the NFL after was reinstated into it. Tony Dungy, a well respected ex-football coach of the Colts, mentored Michael while he was in and when he got out of jail. Michael is playing for Eagles and has kept quiet, it seems like he has sincerely changed.



• Brett Favre- Yes, this was hard for me as a Packers fan but Brett, you did it again. If only you were as good at deciding whether to retire or not each year as you are at actually playing the game, you wouldn't cause me so much stress each summer. This year is a different story for Favre, he has a running game in Adrian Peterson and a stout defense, instead of one or the other like when he was with the Jets and Packers.





• New York Yankees- Another hard for me to admit. The Yankees made probably the biggest monetary off season spending spree in the history of baseball, somewhere in the ball park of $400 million. They made it through A-Rod coming "clean", about three different times, with the public after reports said Alex had tested positive for steroids when the MLB was doing the "Experimental Testing" in 2003. All of this aside, the Yankees won their first world series since 2000, making Yankee's fans happy, for about a day.
  

Worst

• Jay Cutler: So you couldn't get along with your new coach, so what? Instead of being a baby and demanding a trade, couldn't you have just put your differences aside and give the guy a chance. Nah, let's try out the windy city. 16 weeks into the season and I'd bet he like to go back to Mile High. But I don't know if the Broncos would take him back, he's already accumulated 25 int, and 4 games with at least 3 int. Kyle Orton, Cutler's replacement, has thrown 17 TD's with only 8 int. Orton also has about an 18 point advantage in the QB rating. Checkmate



• Tiger Woods: Tiger, you went from last year when you tore up your knee to this year when you tore up your marriage. It only took a car wreck, 13 women, and a tie to a doctor being investigated for bringing HGH into the country to completely fracture your image as an athlete and person. Christmas won't be coming this year either, as you lost over $200 million in sponsorship deals. But don't worry Tiger, you were voted by the AP the athlete of the decade, so it hasn't been to bad of a year, I guess?





• Greg Oden: This seems like an annual thing to talk about. This guy may be one of the biggest busts not to be able to prove himself because every year, he gets hurt! He injured himself again this year and will most likely miss the entire regular season. This after last year where he missed a total of 20 games and right after he was drafted number 1 overall in 2007, he underwent knee surgery to miss his rookie season. Every true basketball fan wants the best for Greg in the future because of the talent he's shown when he is healthy.
  


• T.O.: Every year, I look forward to seeing you tear apart the new team and quarterback you work with. And until now, you've never disappointed me. You've gone from calling Jeff Garcia gay, to calling out your next quarterback in Donovan McNabb, to doing crunches in your driveway while answering reporters, to finally ripping apart one of the most talented teams in the NFL in the Cowboys. But this year, you go to Buffalo, where most people didn't know had a football team, to play for the bills. And barring a blow up in the next two weeks, you've managed to go an entire football season without making news for a "bad" reason, for that I give you props, but it disappoints the side of me that loves hearing what bizarre thing your going to say next.
  

Great Story

While I was flipping through the channels the other day, I came across the College
Football Awards show. This is where all of the big awards in College Football (besides the Heisman) are given out to the best football players in the nation. Some of these awards and their winner's this year consist of the Maxwell award (Colt McCoy), the Doak Walker award (Toby Gerhart), and the award that was in my opinion, the most impressive. The award is called the Disney Spirit award and it's previous winner was Tim Tebow, and I'm thinking that who could possibly top this guy, one of the most decorated college football players ever.

Well as Tim Tebow and the Disney Marketing president present the award to this years winner, Mark Herzlich, I'm thinking who is this guy. It turns out that Mark played and will play football at Boston College University. After his Junior year at Boston College, Mark was thought to be one of the top linebackers in the country and was projected to be a high first round pick if he entered the NFL draft. Mark declined this option and decided to stick it out and play his Senior year in college.

Early this spring, Mark began to have pain in his leg and decided to have a doctor check it out. The doctor took a biopsy and they found out that Mark had Edwing's Sarcoma, which is a rare bone cancer. As I watched this man, tell millions of people on TV his story/battle through this cancer, it made me realize why he was receiving the Disney Spirit award. About two hours after he had been told he had cancer, Mark said to himself and his family basically, that he will beat this cancer and play football again.

During this fall, while Mark was on College Gameday with Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, Mark announced that he had beat the cancer and that he planned to be on the field for BC next season. I have never heard a crowd erupt on College Gameday like they did after that announcement. Mark talked for a while about his fight and all the people that reached out to him: Lance Armstrong and Jon Lester for example. He said that it changed his outlook on life and football. Mark started to put things in perspective and began to appreciate everything he was blessed with and cherish every day in life because you never know if it will be your last. That kind of made me take a step back and think that I should be doing the same, and I will make conscious effort to do so. If you would like to read or watch Mark's entire story go to
http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/ncf/news/story?id=4526574
It will send chills down your spine, it is that touching of a story.

And Abby, do I need to change the name of my web address now? (:

10 things I would struggle living without

10. Play Xbox: This would definitely be the easiest of the ten things to give up simply because I'm so busy all of the time with sports, school, and other crap. But when I do get the time (usually late at night), I can play for hours on end. The game of choice, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 aka the greatest game ever. I'm surprised the army hasn't recruited me yet after the domination I put on everyone online.


9. Eat Ice Cream: This is by far my favorite food, usually chocolate chip cookie dough or cookies and cream. If I was ever to have health issues later in life such as diabetes, Ice Cream would most likely be the cause, that's how much I eat it.


8. Drink Mountain Dew: This would be considered my true addiction. I have to have a mountain dew every day or my day will just plain suck. Its gotten to the point to where if I don't have one I'll get a caffeine head ache, yes I know its sad.

7. Watch movies: well I've been a member of netflix for almost 2 years now and its one of the best things ever in my opinion. It keeps me up to date on new movies I didn't see in theaters and old movies that I've heard about but never seen. I would suggest this to anyone.

6. KSU!!!: Yes, I'm a wildcat at heart, I bleed purple. I can't imagine being a fan for anyone else. And I will probably being studying in Manhattan next year, so that helps.

5.Texting: I'm a product of my generation, technology basically runs my life, I would have a hard time saying I could live without my phone, computer, or ipod. Plus I'm not too big on talking on the phone unless its family (Yes that means you Abby) or a few of my friends.

4. Watching TV: The next four are probably interchangeable for the toughest thing to give up. I watch alot of shows on TV and will find something to watch when none of my shows are on. My shows I watch include: Two and a half men, Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, The office, South Park, and Flash Forward. Plus I'm watching a new show with Ray Romano on TNT at 10/9C tonight. When none of those are on, I'll find a sports show, movie, or Seinfeld to watch.


3. Eating Fast Food: This also could be the downfall of my heart later in life. I love every food fast restaurant: McDonald's, arbys, sonic, chipotle, and taco bell mainly. I think I could live off the dollar menu!


2. Listen to my Ipod: My Ipod gets me through school every day, I can't just sit in a classroom and do nothing, I have to have my Ipod in. It includes basically every type of music, but mostly rap. Favorite rappers include: Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Eminem, Tupac, Biggie (Yes, I know, I'm a straight thug.)

1. Drive: Its a sense of freedom, that I can theoretically can go wherever I want (usually Wichita). I can just drive to drive, I don't need somewhere to go, I just go with the flow. The only thing is that I wish I would have got a truck so when I'm with my friends and they want to go somewhere they couldn't say "Well we can't fit in my truck, so looks like your driving Corbin" but I really don't mind when the parents are being nice and fill up my tank.

Now these aren't set in stone, so with a little work Abby, you could move your way onto this list, we'll just have to see when you guys come to live with us:)

'Hene'say What? : 'Professional' Idiots

Well lets just say people never seize to amaze me. In this week, professional athletes have forgotten to take their 'don't be an idiot' pill. Now I know some of the things in the news are really none of our business (Tiger Wood's ordeal) but when Los Angeles Lakers starting foward, Ron Artest, came out and said that early in his NBA career, he would drink hennesey before and during halftime games. Now I've never drank alcohol before (:, but I doubt that it could help you perform in a professional basketball game. Now I'm not totally going to condemn this guy because as usual, the only thing that has been shown on TV and the papers is that he drank during halftime. In the actual interview this all came out of, Ron was trying to talk about how immature he was at the time and wanted to show young people going through tough times examples of how not to get threw it. Now this doesn't make what he did ok, but its in the past, he's a differen't person now so all these people need to get off his back and let the guy play.

In other professional athletic news, Keith Ballard, a hockey player, took out his frustrations after giving up a goal by breaking his stick over the goal, while in the process, he hit HIS OWN GOALIE in the head. Now after he hit his goalie in the head, he hits his stick across the goal again to make sure its broken, and then he skated off with no idea what he did. The goalie ended up getting more than 10 stitches on his ear, and the two have since talked and are over it.



Florida University's defensive end, Carlos Dunlap, was taken in by police after being found at a green light, asleep in his car. He was given a field sobriety test and was said to have "performed poorly on it"(surprise! he got a DUI). On one side we should happy this guy was asleep, at a stop, instead of driving and hurting someone else. On the other hand, this guy has two of the biggest games of his life coming up: The SEC championship against the #2 team in the nation, Alabama, and if they won that game, THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSIP. Not to mention how bad its going to hurt his top 15 draft stock. But really that doesn't matter, this guy needs to get his life straight before he even thinks about playing football.


And My final 'burn' on professional athletes is on Adrian Peterson. This guy was clocked going 109 MPH in a 55 on his way to the stadium. I mean thats not too terrible, he was only one MPH under going double the speed limit. I think the Vikings should go ahead and take advantage of this situation and hire the best driver they can find to take this guy everywhere he needs to go, then have someone carry him around when he's not in a car because this guy is the Vikings "franchise player" and without him they are a mediocre team. AP, be as fast as you want on the field, but on the highway just chill or invest in a radar detector.

I know theres probably many idiots I missed but I'm tired so for now , I"m out.....

10 Sporting events I want to attend before I die

10. Yankee's at Red Sox in Fenway: No I don't like either team, in fact I actually hate both of them but its still one of the most intense rivalries in sports. In a perfect world I would be on the the Green Monster and it would be game 7 of the ALCS.

9. Wimbledon: Although I suck horribly at tennis, I still tend to watch all the major tournaments and never miss a match between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer (Nadal being my favorite ) or the Williams' sisters (don't have a preference). And I'll occassionaly watch Maria Sharapova, not the game just her.

8.Duke Vs. North Carolina: Again, I hate both of these teams, mostly North Carolina because of "huckleberry". But this is by far the best rivalry in college basketball. One of the best stories about this rivalry is when one game, a duke fan tries to distract a north carolina player while wearing a speedo. Pictures say a 1000 words so i'll let you watch this for your self. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpHB6W_r9ag

7. Los Angeles Lakers vs Cleveland Cavaliers: This isn't exactly a rivalry but it would be a showing of the two best players in the NBA now and maybe when its all said and done the two of the top three in the history of the game, if you didn't know Abby, I'm talking about Kobe Bryant and Lebron James.

6.Home Run Derby: Who cares if they are on steroids, as long as they hit a home run to me in the home run derby, I watch this every year and it is getting better every year.

5.NBA Dunk Contest- This has grown on me in the last couple of years as I've started watching alot more NBA, I'm now an official Orlando Magic fan because of Dwight 'Superman' Howard, this is probably up with Shaq as one of the most athletic 7 footers of all time and isn't even close to reaching his potential as a player, not to mention he won the dunk contest 2 years ago. Nate Robinson won last years dunk contest, this is a guy who is 5'9" tall, playing in the NBA which is a very rare thing, let alone the guy CAN DUNK, this guy is crazy good, youtube him.

4. Masters- Well this has been a weird week with my favorite golfer, Tiger Woods, crashing into a tree outside his house and being accused of either cheating on his wife and his wife was chasing him with a golf club, comical to think of. Or he was drunk, I'm not thinking so, but i'll let you be the judge. Anyway this is the Superbowl of golf, to get that green jacket is like getting a superbowl ring ("Gold Jacket, Green Jacket, who gives a shit" Happy Gilmore)

3.The Final Four: MARCH MADNESS BABY. As long as KU is not in the game it would be a very enjoyable experience. Maybe some day Kansas State will reach the final four and my dream will come true, damn you michael beasley and bill walker, who would pass up manhattan for millions of dollars? Ok maybe thats understandable

2.A UFC event: In the past 3 months, I've really became addicted to this sport, and yes for those who don't watch it, it is a sport. It basically involves every type of fighting style: Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Juhjitzu, Kickboxing, and karate. It's basically two guys beating the shit out of each other with very limited rules until one of the guys is knocked out, the guy can't defend himself and they call the fight, or when the time runs out ( usually three 5 minute rounds unless its a title fight, which makes it 5 rounds)

1. Superbowl: Of course, its the single most watched sporting event every year. It can make or break a players career. It can decide whether you were good or great. And don't forget the halftime show, you may get to see a boob (wardrobe maflunction), or even Bruce Springsteen for you old people..cough cough Abby (joking, your young at heart) If God really loves me, he'll have the Packers win a couple in my lifetime, and maybe I'll get lucky and see one. The odds are against me though.

Well thats all for now............

Mulvane 'High' School: Home of dumbass's, weirdo's and murderers

Well this is my first "blog" that I've ever done, I kind of had one of those AHAH moments when someone suggested to me that I should be sports writer when I grow up or attempt to. It makes sense, A. I love sports, I love pretty much every sport besides hockey and I could watch sports all day if I felt like it. B. I'm not too shabby of a writer (I know, most people never would have guessed). So when I googled almost every aspect about sports writers, pretty much every website said to start to blog, blog, blog, and blog some more. So here I am.

So for those of you who don't know me, I live in Mulvane, Kansas, a small town south of Wichita. I am a Senior in High School (Thank GOD!!!! MAY 15TH I CAN'T WAIT) and what a year or years for that matter it has been. I'll just start off with the drama that has happened THIS SEMESTER OF THIS YEAR!!!

1. First off, I would say about 80% (rough estimate) of our students either smoke, drink, chew, or pop pills. Usually the smoking and popping pills go hand in hand. Yes I know this is sad. Anyway back to my story. So in the past two weeks our school has caught 2 students smoking in the school parking lot, this will cost you a suspension the rest of the semester aka more smoking time for them. And the day before Thanksgiving break, 2 more students was caught smoking IN THE SHOWER OF THE LOCKER ROOM!!!! Now I'm not the smartest person ever but I know that smoking isn't so good you can't wait 4 hours to do it after school. This will cost you an 180 day expulsion from the district, aka "I hope another school will take me".

2. Ok so you know the people that you would swear on your life are gay? well there is a kid in our high school that almost everyone thought was gay and were taking bets on the day he would come out (joking). Well he is in drama and the drama department was performing "Beauty and the Beast" and I'm not for sure on all the details but I was told that during the play, a group of kids walked in on this kid (the fag that likes girls) "messing around" with a GIRL!!!! This will cost you a school suspension and suspension from the drama department.

3. Ok so this one really threw me a curveball. One of my ex-classmates (dropout) was arrested a few days ago for murdering two people, they were said to be his drug dealers who were married and had kids. (By the way the kids were left there til the bodies were found, OVER A DAY LATER!!) The police are saying it was a robbery over a gun or something like that. I'm hearingt this on the news and thinking, I went to school with a murderer, then later realized that I used to be friends with this kid in like 2nd grade (In my defense, I was friends with everyone in 2nd Grade) and had gone to his b-day party as a child. This sent chills down my spine thinking about this. This also be included in the dumbass's paragraph because after he killed these people, he went straight home and didn't leave, police picked him up 2 days later at his home which means he left alot of evidence. I mean if your going to kill somebody aren't you going to run to Canada (for french fries and gravy) or "you boys like MEXCIO!! Sorry I couldn't help myself with Super Trooper quotes.

Well this is just the first semester new, if I gave you my entire high school career's drama, it would probably have to be a book, but I'll try to drop a few stories in here and there in my blogs. But I think you get the picture, I go to or have gone to school with dumbass's, weirdo's, and murderers.